Our first Winemakers to Watch from the South Coast, the young married couple is bottling noteworthy wines under their Vesper label, and in doing so, giving the SoCal region a little credibility.

If you ask them, however, the fruit - and the land - is what got them there.

"First, we're farmers," says Stehly.

The duo grew up on farmland about a half-mile from one another on Vesper Road - hence the name - in Valley Center (San Diego County). Broomell's parents started planting vineyards when he was 12; Stehly's father runs a company that manages organic citrus and avocado groves.

"I learned a lot. I loved the fact that they had never had Prohibition down there, and you were able to visit all these old wineries that had never been closed or destroyed," he says. "It had this really old-school family feel."

Broomell came home feeling inspired and ready to taste a bunch of San Diego fruit - his family had been urging him to make wine from their grapes for awhile. Much to his surprise, most of what he'd originally thought about the Southern California grapes was wrong.

"The fruit was way better than what the wine was tasting like," he says. "The quality was actually really good, and not because people were doing sophisticated farming, but because of what was there."

That was 2007, and Broomell spent the next year commuting between Santa Barbara and San Diego. Stehly, in the meantime, had moved back home to do vineyard management, and the two continued their courtship, eventually deciding to go into business together.

In 2008, they made their first barrel of Pinot Noir at his family's property, Triple B Ranches. That spring, the family had approved a business plan to start construction of a winery. Stehly and Broomell spent the next five years bottling under the Vesper label there, sourcing a variety of local grapes - including those from Triple B and El Nidos Vineyards, a property being managed by Stehly's dad.

"That's how farming is," says Stehly. "It's all in the family."

Last summer, the couple moved into a 7,000-square-foot facility in Escondido, a co-op between Vesper, Stehleon - Stehly's parents' operation - and J. Brix, another local vintner. The larger facility has allowed them to triple production this year.

And they continue to grow. Two weeks ago, Broomell and Stehly opened their tasting room to the public.

"Now," Broomell says, "we're just working on making good wine in San Diego."

Ages: Stehly, 28; Broomell, 29

What they do: Make a variety of San Diego wines using grapes from their families' and other growers' sites.

Weeknight wine: Warm-weather wines. Dry Rosés or anything that goes well with oysters.

Quote: "What we try to do is represent the farmers, the sites, the grapes."